May 10, 2017

The London Hopper research colloquium takes place 10am-4pm Thursday 25 May 2017 at BCS London Office.

London Hopper is an annual 1-day event for researchers across the UK who are building a career in computing. Women speakers will talk about their research in cyber security, building rehabilitation technologies, simulations of the human heart, and devices for the hearing impaired.

The event will also feature a spotlight competition with cash prizes open to research Masters and PhD students, and lots of opportunities to meet and network with other early career researchers in computing.

May 9, 2017

Informatics Europe is still accepting nominations for the second Minerva Informatics Equality Award devoted to initiatives which seek to encourage and support the careers of women in Informatics research and education. The second of this annual award will be presented in October 2017 and is sponsored by Google. The Award carries a prize of EUR 5,000.

Deadlines

Full nominations: 1 June 2017
Notification of winner(s): 1 August 2017

About

The Informatics Europe Minerva Informatics Equality Award recognizes best practices in Departments or Faculties of European universities or research labs that have been demonstrated to have a positive impact for women. On a three-year cycle the award will focus each year on a different stage of the career pipeline:

Developing the careers of female faculty, including retention and promotion

Supporting the transition of female PhD and postdoctoral researchers into faculty positions

Encouraging female students to enroll in Computer Science/Informatics programmes and retaining them.

The 2017 Award is devoted to initiatives supporting the transition of female PhD and postdoctoral researchers into faculty positions.

The Award seeks to celebrate successful initiatives that have had a measurable impact on the careers of women within the institution. Such initiatives can serve as exemplars of best practices within the community, with the potential to be widely adopted by other institutions. Nominations will need to demonstrate the impact that has been achieved.

For 2017 examples of impact could include an improved career development and better agreements on career planning for female PhD students and postdocs as recorded in objective surveys of staff experience, and increasing numbers of female faculty.

The Award will be given to a Department or Faculty to be used for further work on supporting the transition of female PhD or post-docs to faculty positions. To be eligible, nominated institutions must be located in one of the member or candidate member countries of the Council of Europe, or Israel. Institutions associated with members of the Informatics Europe Board and of the Award panel are not eligible.

The Award panel will review and evaluate each proposal. It reserves the right to split the prize between at most two different proposals.
Moreover, noteworthy runners up may also be included as exemplars of best practice in future Informatics Europe publications.

Contact information for the Head of the nominated Department or Faculty and the nominator (who can be the same)

A brief summary or abstract (100 words or less) which can be made public.

Description of the initiative (max 2 pages)

Evidence of its impact (max 2 pages);

An optional reference list (which may include URLs of supporting material);

Optionally, one or two letters of support. The letters of support may come, for example, from female staff members who have benefited from the scheme.

The Award will be presented at the 13th European Computer Science Summit, in Lisbon, 23-25 October 2017, where a representative of the winning institution(s) will be invited to give a talk on their achievements.

Staff working away from Edinburgh from 15 May can book the event named ‘Telephone Individual Consultation Meeting’, also via MyEd: http://edin.ac/2qvc4Lo.

A member of the University HR Services team will then be in touch to co-ordinate your availability with that of McGill & Co, either during the week of 15 May or at a later date.

Staff who are working in Edinburgh during the week of 15 May but are unable to attend any session, or find suitable times have been taken, should register for a cancellation or future sessions by booking the event named ‘Waiting List – Individual Consultation Meeting’, also via MyEd: http://edin.ac/2pOcujQ.

Future sessions will be arranged for later in May/early June, according to demand.

Missed the group sessions?

Videos of the three group information sessions, the slides presented and Frequently Asked Questions from the 600+ attendees will be published on the HR webpages on Friday 5 May.

The 1-2-1 meetings form part of a package of additional advice and support for staff which includes:
– Reduced costs for staff who may need additional legal advice
– Financial support to help spread the cost of UK residency fees and/or citizenship fees and legal advice
– Practical help to obtain evidence of employment and earnings to support applications.

May 1, 2017

Our Amazon Women in Innovation Bursary student, Claire Doherty, has been featured in a video on Amazon’s website. Claire is one of three women in the UK to be selected for the bursary, which provides funding for up to four years of university as well as access to an Amazon mentor.

The Amazon bursary aims to encourage UK women to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).

One undergraduate bursary is available to a UK female student commencing an undergraduate degree in Informatics at the University of Edinburgh in the 2017-2018 academic session.